Getting Hillary's Hackles Up Is Not A Good Idea

Noreen, you make a good point about Sec. Clinton’s reaction to a Congolese man who asked her about Bill Clinton's thoughts on a potential loan from China to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet I’m hard pressed to believe that many people in the Washington cocktail set would be so impolitic, or clueless, to exhibit anything remotely close to such condescension and sexism. After watching her campaign for the presidency last year, is there really any one left in the U.S. who doesn’t believe she can hold her own on weighty matters?

I was not the least bit bothered by Hillary Clinton’s tone or reaction (whew, was she angry), though I bet after watching herself on YouTube she might wish she had come off a bit more diplomatically. And I don’t care if the original question was supposedly flubbed by the Congolese translator, who was a woman by the way. Clearly either the questioner or the translator mistakenly thought that Bill was the real brain behind Hillary and that his opinion on policy matters was more important than hers. Unfortunately this kind of attitude is common among African, Latin American, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and South Asian men (and all the others I’ve left out), especially those in positions of power. What’s sadder is that many women in these regions have become so accustomed to such thinking that they believe it to be true as well.

Sometimes a well-timed and undiplomatic tongue-lashing is called for to make patriarchal politicans think twice before speaking, or at least remind them that sometimes it’s better to bite their stupid, sexist tongues. It’s also a good example for women who live in these patriarchal societies that they don’t have to stand for such outdated cultural notions. Hillary’s comments were a very effective verbal kick-in-the-butt response to a very offensive foot-in-the-mouth question. I say, “You go girl!”

Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo, Hillary Clinton, sexism

Marjorie Valbrun is a contributing writer at The Root where she writes about the intersection of race, gender and politics.

Comments

Unprofessional

By: Ketone | Wed, 08/12/2009 - 14:41

If Hillary Clinton had been asked that question on the campaign trail and had responded that way, I would have said good for her. On the campaign trail you run as much on your personal character as on your credentials. But she wasn't campaigning -- she was asked the question by a Congolese citizen during a diplomatic mission in which she was a represenative of the United States. It is not the Secretary of State's job to upbraid foreign citizens after real or perceived personal slights, regardless of whether a rebuke would have been deserved. Furthermore, I doubt she would have responded so undiplomatically if the Congolese president had asked such a question of her; it just makes her look like a bully to do it to a student, especially one who apparently didn't ask the question with malice (aside from the issue of whether or not there was a translation error). It would have been much more professional for her to ignore the perceived slight and simply give her opinion and/or President Obama's opinion, which hopefully are in agreement. Government officials -- especially diplomats -- need to be big enough to put their personal feelings aside when representing their nation.

perhaps

By: misslkodell | Wed, 08/12/2009 - 14:26

perhaps the female translator had a Freudian slip of the tongue? showing the paternalistic nature of the culture she comes from, and their very unenlightened view of women or anyone not in power as shown by the constant rapes of those without guns in the Congo.

Racist much?

By: pj1976 | Wed, 08/12/2009 - 14:17

So I usually never comment on these boards, but your comment about men (and women) from the regions of the world you mentioned (read: not white), being uniformly sexist and paternalistic was offensive to the extreme. You forget that many of the countries in the regions you mentioned have had elected female heads of state (some many times over), while the U.S. (which you seem to think is the bastion of equality for all the world to look up to) has never had a single one. And although the negative examples tend to be more fresh in our collective memories, the majority of women in many of those societies have made great strides for equality, and in many cases are in just as good, sometimes better situations than their American counterparts. How insulting for you to assume that these woman have ALL agree with the paternilistic view of things. With your jingoistic assumptions as an example, no wonder why so many people in other countries hate us.

As for the random Congolese dude, the poor guy wanted to ask what the President's opinion was, not Bill Clinton's. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a Cabinet Member (male or female) what the President's opinion is. It was the translator that screwed it up and caused an unneccessarily uncomfortable situation. But being a minority myself, I can understand Ms. Clinton's reaction to perceived sexism (being discriminated against tends to make you more sensitive to slights, real or not).

Sad, but necessary.

By: sugar_k | Wed, 08/12/2009 - 13:40

Like all the other Good Girls of my generation I don't want to be some strident manhater, etc. etc. But then something like this question comes along: the guy really didn't notice that it was Hillary there as Sec'y of State and not her husband? Does he really think she had to ask her husband how to think about China's relationship with the Congo? Really? And then I see the sad necessity of the US's top diplomat having to get into it with some random Congolese dude.